summer dresses and scented candles
by keep my issues drawn
Summary: / You need to forget, Dominique, because when you remember it hurts too much. / DominiqueFemale!OC, angst&romance, for the Prompts, Oh, Prompts thread on NGF.


**For the aptly named Prompts, oh, Prompts thread on The NextGen Fanatics forum, January 4th. DominiqueFemale!OC. Hope you enjoy. :)**

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><p>summer fling<p>

candlelight ; garden ; touch

but let my love no longer trouble you / I do not wish to cause you any pain - Alexander Pushkin's "I Loved You".

dominiquefemale!oc

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><p>You push the thoughts of the summer from your mind. Try to forget her haunting hazel eyes and her lustrous, long, blonde hair. You need to forget, Dominique, because when you remember it hurts too much. It was just a summer fling, that was all it was ever going to be, <em>just a summer fling<em>. Maybe for her, it was. But for you? It was meant to last for eternity.

The floral summer dresses you both wore spring to mind, you remember holding hands and spinning round in those dresses, thankful for the denim shorts underneath as the skirt billowed out. So many times you laughed with her, _damn_, you even cried with her. You thought it was something special, but now? It's gone, and you know it's never coming back. _She's _never coming back.

The first thing that springs to mind when you think about Aubree are the scented candles she'd carry around with her. Whenever she came over to your place for dinner, she'd bring the scented candles and light them as you ate dinner out in the garden, when it was still light and the air was fresh. When everything was perfect and your mistakes were forgiven, and promises were kept. Those dinners lit by candlelight were the very definition of perfect. You laugh a harsh, hollow laugh as you reminisce over those days of summer you had with her, and then you suddenly stop, haunted by the last look you had from those cold, dead eyes.

The first time her fingers brushed past yours was like an enchantment. It was like all the bad things had been taken from the world and replaced with things like love and happiness. The electric tingles that ran down your spine were magical, even though she had no magic in her. You first fell in love with her when you both reached for the salt, and you never felt the same again. Fate has a habit of messing with you, and you don't believe in omens, do you Dominique? But you spilt the salt, and then look what happened to the one you loved.

Dominique, why are you always so _cursed _in love? Why do you choose the wrong person _every time_? A person who will always end up with someone else, someone who can never love you back, someone who was fated to die in a car crash from the day she was born. You always believed in fate, even if you didn't believe in omens. Maybe you believed in fate because it always messed you up so badly. You try not to remember her touch, those floral dresses, and the candlelight meals in the beautiful garden. The garden that to you, was the Garden of Eden. But it wasn't eating an apple that cast you out. It was the moment when the life flashed from her eyes. So, Dominique, don't remember. It only makes you hurt.

Still, you reminisce, remember the times you laughed, the times you cried. The times you wanted so desperately to tell her you were a witch. You hated lying to her, over and over again.

"Where do you work then?" Aubree would ask.

You'd hesitate for a moment, wondering if you could tell her, _St Mungo's_._I work at St Mungo's. _No, you couldn't tell her. Not yet, not until you knew her better. That was always your excuse, darling, wasn't it?

"The Queen's Hospital, you know, down the road."

She'd nod, and she'd smile, and ask you about what exactly you did there, and you'd thank the skies that Grandpa Weasley had told you a bit about muggle medicine and stitches, and bandages. It wasn't easy, lying to her, not in the slightest. But it was something you recognized had to be done. Now, looking back, you wish you'd told her. She deserved to know, because she was yours, and you were hers, even if it was only for that sweet summer.

You shouldn't have let her go on that trip, with her _friend_. You never trusted muggle cars, you used to hate it when anyone would drive you anywhere. They were untrustworthy, and you'd always see cars at the side of the motorway, stuck, or broken. You never saw the worst accidents, but they were all over the news. But you let her go, because you loved her.

"_I'll be back tomorrow, Dom." she whispered as she rose from the bed, wrapping a sheet around her slender body._

_You rolled over, and looked into her eyes, and smiled. _I trust you_. "I love you," you had said, and she had returned it. If only you'd known that was the last time you'd seen her, maybe you would've got out of bed and made the most of those few moments before she left. Then again, if you'd known, you wouldn't have let her go._

_Push from your mind those memories of the last day, those are the memories that hurt the most. That friend calling you from Aubree's mobile. You saw Aubree's name on the screen and picked it up, happy to hear her voice just once more._

"_Hello?" you answered._

"_Dom?" an unfamiliar voice answered, "It's Emily."_

_You had wondered why Aubree's friend had rung you, and not Aubree herself. You had pressed the phone so tightly to your ear that it hurt, so as to not miss a single word._

"_What's the matter?" you asked, "What's wrong?" your heartbeat sped up, you began imagining all the things that could have happened to her. Not my Aubree, no, please not Aubree…_

"_It's Aubree." Emily replied, "She's at the hospital. Why aren't you there? I thought you worked there!" the anguish clearly showed through in Emily's voice, and her shock that Dom hadn't been there._

_It was your fault that time, not fates fault. Why did you have to lie to Aubree, tell her that you worked at the hospital? Maybe if you'd told her about St Mungos, she could've got there. Before it was too late._

"_I'm on my way." you replied, your voice breaking under the strain, tears rolling_

_down your cheeks, your mascara smudging. You grabbed your handbag and apparated to just outside the hospital. Run, Dom, run_. Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man! _Run, past the bins, through the hospital doors, run, run, run. _I ran from the baker and his wife too. You'll never catch me, not any of you._ You arrived at the hospital desk, panting for breath._

"_Aubree Woods." you managed to utter those words, "I'm here to see Aubree Woods."_

_The receptionist looked up, glasses perched on the end of her nose, looking haughty and tired. "Name, please?"_

"_Dominique Weasley." you said, trying to remain calm, "Please tell me what's happening to her!"_

_She motioned for a nurse to come over, and the nurse took you into a corner._

_You waited for her to talk, and when she remained silent, you decided to ask her the question that you'd wanted to know since you'd got that phone call, only minutes ago._

"_What's the matter with her?" you asked, frantically, "What's happened to Aubree?"_

_The nurse shot you a sympathetic look, "Aubree Woods was in a car crash this morning."_

This morning? But it's the afternoon!_ "And her state is?"_

"_Alive," the way she said it sounded like she was lucky to still be alive, like she was barely hanging on._

"_I want to see her." those words rushed from your mouth, without you even thinking of them._

"_I'm afraid it's family only." the nurse replied, "You'll have to wait here."_

_A jolt of electricity seemed to shoot through your body, you became hot and alive and mad, "I need to see her," you had told her, as calmly as you could, but your anger clearly showed through._

_The nurse had sighed, "I'm dreadfully sorry, I've told you, it's family only."_

"_I'm her girlfriend!" you blurt out, "Her bloody significant other!"_

You push those memories from your mind. You don't want them, you don't want to relive how you screamed, and cried, and pounded your fists against the wall, waiting to see if Aubree would come out alive. It didn't matter that you'd only known her for a month, you'd fallen in love deeper than you could have ever believed possible. You sometimes wonder if she's up in heaven somewhere, not that you ever believed in heaven, but she did, _Aubree _did. She believed in going somewhere after you died, even if she wasn't quite sure how, or why. She was so innocent and so breathtakingly beautiful. You wish you could comb your fingers through her long, blonde hair again, whisper sweet nothings in her ear, and fall to the bed in a tangle of limbs, and sheets and lust and _love_. It was love, wasn't it? It had to be, otherwise why were you feeling the anguish you were now?

Some summer flings stay with you forever. Some summer flings can be more than that. So maybe your loved one died, Dominique, but she's with you now, isn't she? Somewhere, she's beside you, asking you for your forgiveness, saying sorry for dying and leaving you like that.

She wishes it in vain, because she's caused you all the pain in the world. Sometimes, when you're alone in bed at night, when the only sounds are the ticking of the clocks, and the buzzing of your appliances, you whisper to the cold, empty night.

"_I love you. And it wasn't your fault."_

but let my love no longer trouble you / I do not wish to cause you any pain - Alexander Pushkin's "I Loved You".

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><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed, <span>please <span>if you've read this far, leave a review. :) Thanks for reading. **


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